IamA Six Flags Ride Operator, AMA!

I have been working as a ride operator at Six Flags over Georgia for almost a year now, and more recently as a ride in-charge. You can believe me when I say that I've seen some shit. I'm open to most questions, so ask away!

EDIT: Done for now, I'll check in every hour or so and answer any questions, so please keep 'em coming!

Will you be there Saturday? My and my wife are coming. I'm going to say "Theme_Park_Throwaway" to the operator of every ride we go to. I'll know it's you when you say "banana for scale, captain." Then I will salute you.

Those. Exact. Words. It'll blow my wife's mind.

Edit 1: Status update. I have not seen him/her yet. My wife doesn't want to go to the kiddie rides. We're currently waiting for the Goliath and the line is at a dead stop.. No signs of our guy/gal at acrophobia. Next stop is the train.

Edit 2: the train appears to be closed?

Edit 3: I am sorry to report that I did not find /u/Theme_Park_Throwaway. There were two things on my agenda: have fun with the wife and make reddit happy. I could only accomplish one of those but we have season passes so maybe next time.

When that phone at the little booth rings, who is on the other end, where are they, and what are they telling you? In my mind it's either, "Don't let that guy in the blue ride, he's a terrorist" or "don't let anyone on or they'll all die."

The phone is used for supervisors/ride attendants to contact supervisors/ride attendants. When the phone rings on a ride, usually it is something along the lines of "Do you have extra people at your ride? I need an extra person over here to run lunch breaks" or something related to the staff. All the important/interesting phone calls involve us calling someone else, such as for a breakdown, fight, or other situations that involve us closing the ride.

Yes. WAAAAAAY too many fat people come to the park thinking that "Oh well they must have fat people come all the time so there's gotta be some accommodations." Yeah, some rides fit bigger riders than others, but none of our rides (with the exception of some flat rides and other non-coaster rides) are meant to accommodate obese guests.

The worst is the arguing. People seem to think that I can just reach over to my panel and engage "fat people mode" or something. If the god damned restraint won't close around you, there's nothing I can do to fix it. Got a problem with that? Contact the ride manufacturer. Six Flags doesn't design the coasters or the units (the thing you ride in).

As a fellow Six Flags employee (Great America) I feel your pain. Too many times have I gotten yelled at because people waited two hours in line, only to find they didn't fit. When I tell them they should have tried the test seat at the entrance they get even more furious. It's greeeeat!

I trained ride operators and attendants at a smaller amusement park. During orientation I was charged with teaching the "guests of unique body proportion" section. It involved a lot of role playing on how to most professionally and sensitively deal with this common situation while still sticking to your guns and not compromising safety.

Some fat people (sorry-- "guests of unique body proportion") would have our 16-year-old attendants in tears.

Yeah, it sucks having to tell someone they can't ride because they're too fat. For anyone wondering, the standard procedure is to say "If the restraints can't close properly I can't allow you to ride, sorry."

I could google but I'm already on Reddit and you're here so yeah... didn't a lady die in Texas because she was too big for the ride and shoved herself into her seat and her belt to just be thrown off moments later?

I heard something like that but I can't confirm any details on it. One point I really want to stress is that rollercoasters, and theme park rides in general, are extremely safe if everyone follows the rules. As long as you follow the rules, you will be fine.

First tier is the "A little overweight" tier. Sure, they're a bit bigger, but they're not unhealthy and they exercise occasionally.

Then we have the simply fat people. Yeah, most people would agree they are fat, but they can still walk around and function properly (for the most part). They can ride some of the rides, but some of the smaller rides just aren't for them.

Then there's the people who are just depressingly fat. They come to the park usually with family, and still try to fit on every ride.

Do yourself a favor: If you are nowhere near being able to close the restraint, you can't ride. If you wait for me to come around you're only going to create a scene. Just hop up and wait for your party outside of the exit.

Injuries? None. Modern theme parks are remarkably safe. Whenever you see a ride closed for maintenance it's because something simple (Usually the lift or transport devices) has failed. Never have I heard of a rides brakes, restraints, or any vital element breaking.

Unpleasant bodily fluids? Being that it is an amusement park, vomit isn't very surprising. Usually it's not too often, maybe 2 or 3 times a week does someone vomit in a place that would cause the ride to have to close, and when we do have to clean it up, it's not too bad. We use a sawdust looking cleaning agent that essentially sucks up all of the liquid, sanitizes the area, and makes the entire place smell like like artificial flowers. From there it's just a matter of sweeping it up into a normal dust pan and dumping it in the garbage.

Complete whackadoodles? Well, yeah. Nothing too bad usually, depends on your definition of whackadoodle. We often have guests with different medical conditions ride our rides, but usually they are very nice and compliant. Most people who get angry or violent with us usually are just angry because they've been waiting in line for an hour and don't get exactly what they want.

It's crazy how much poop we find. In the line, behind vending machines, in the middle of the fucking paths. Most of it can be contributed to all the feral cats running around in the park, but sometimes you can just look and tell that it was a human that did it. I sometimes wonder what the encounter would be like if I ever caught someone in the act.

Hard to say. We have a lot of people ask that we bend the rules for them, and get incredibly irate when we don't. For example, someone came to me right before I sent a train out (with another train waiting to come in the station) and demanded I let them get in the open seat. I tell them the procedure of load, Check restraints (already done) and go. She got all worked up and ended up saying that she's the guest and that since she paid to get in the park I have to do what she says. I again tell her that I don't make the rules, and that I am not allowed to let her in, and (by my own mistake) that my job is more important than 30 seconds of her time. She immediately responds with "You don't know who I am! I could have you fired right now!" and waddles off with her 2 children. Keep in mind this was in front of an (almost) fully loaded train, all of which just wanted to go.

I can tell you that we really don't have a procedure for that. If you manage to cut without any guests in line noticing, you're fine. If a ton of guests are pointing fingers at you saying you cut in line, I'll give security a call. Most often what happens is that some kid will try to cut in line to be funny, and when someone notices him he just walks back to where he was.

Weather and vomit are pretty much the only things that shut down a ride. One ride in specific has to close pretty often due to a transport motor (those little wheels that push you out of the station) that sometimes throws error codes.

With the exception of a few flat rides, the ride operator has control only over the gates in the station, the restraints, and train dispatch. So no, there is most likely no relationship between you screaming and the ride's speed.

I recently went to Six Flags Over Georgia over the summer. While I was in the park, our car was broken into, along with the car that was parked next to me. Her and I both spoke to security, and they told us that it happens all the time. I know you're a ride operator, but would you happen to know if Six Flags has increased security at all to prevent things like this from happening again?

From what I've heard, they have acknowledged the problem. Not sure if they've started making changes to stop that. I personally would still not leave any valuables inside my car in that lot, or any public lot for that matter.

If an employee is in their home-area, they should be able to tell you where the closest bathroom is without even thinking. The employees you asked were probably on their way to or from their position and didn't know that part of the park well.

Besides the general unsightly stuff (employee cafeteria, maintenance sheds, employee lot, security HQ, and other offices and stuff), there's nothing really "hidden" from the guests. You can even see the big aforementioned "backstage" area from the train. There's really not much to hide. The employee lot is an absolute MESS though. There's rollercoaster trains, big tube things for thunder river, tons of storage crates, props for fright fest, and plenty more unused crap just scattered about in the back of the lot.

I really can't generalize much. The vast majority of the people there are very polite and nice. There are some rude people, but to say that one specific group of people is meaner than another is hard to do. In fact, the foreigners who visit the park are almost always incredibly compliant and polite, even if there's sometimes trouble understanding each other.

Not OP and not a park employee, but as a frequent visitor of amusement parks(mostly disney world and universal studios...literally well over 100 times) i feel qualified to answer this. The french have been involved in more rude encounters that i have witnessed than any other nationality. Brazilians are probably a distant second, mainly because the seem to come in ridiculously large groups, usually college aged, and feed off of each other's excitement until they almost seem insane.

You have to be certified to operate and run each individual rides. Of the rides I'm certified for, I think my favorite position is the Georgia Cyclone, honestly there is almost no line ever for that ride, which makes for happier and more compliant guests. I don't get the opportunity to work there much, but every month or so I'll end up there.

I remember my first ride on the Georgia Cyclone. It was with my dad and it was the LOUDEST rollercoaster in the park. Definitely one of the older ones, and all white. Pretty fun ride but definitely aged. It's a lot like the Coney Island Cyclone, apparently. According to Wikipedia.

There was a guy operating mr freeze at the St Louis location that came up with the BEST one liners to send guests off. He didn't make them up or anything, just shit like "AUTOBOTSROLLOUT!" and he would sing nsync "bye bye bye." It was the first time I heard anyone be interesting while sending off rides. Found a supervisor to compliment him :)

I've been to the park many times, grew up in ATL. Great job answering questions here, btw, I've really enjoyed reading them!

Any good Fright Fest stories? I assume that the people in costume get punched on occasion. It seems like that'd be a good excuse to punch somebody in the face and get away with it. You know, hypothetically speaking of course.

Did you dress up last year or do they hire temps or people specially trained?

So is there an estop for every ride? I mean it's not really beneficial to stop a ride when it's just up on the tracks because the people can't get out anyway. I'm always terrified at the start of the ride that something will happen and I can't do anything about it until the ride ends entirely. Like I'll be at the top of the ferris wheel and have a panic attack and not be able to get off/flag the operator

It depends on the ride. For some rides, not at all. Specifically flat rides such as the kiddie swings, and the little ferris wheel. These rides require nothing more than just pulling the e-stop button back up.

For coasters, however, maintenance needs to come and restart it for us, which keeps us from using it in situations that it's unnecessary, such as if someone left their bag on the dock, or if they didn't take their hat off like we asked.

Six Flags makes sure guests are made aware of the fact that we are not responsible for anything left in the boxes on the ride dock. That being said, in most cases it is much safer to leave your items there than hold them or put them in your pockets.

And don't get me started on hats. If the ride is fast in any way, you need to take your hat off. Yes it will fall off. No, just because you tightened it doesn't mean it won't fall off. No, we won't go get it for you. No, putting it backwards won't help. You're going 70 mph on an open-air seat. Your hat is going to fall off if you wear it.

If any of the operators or attendants deem there is an emergency, they will stop the ride. If we know that a person is simply scared of the ride itself, unless the ride is something that's easy to stop, (think tiny kids rides or chairswings), it's too late.

Nope, even in events where the lift stops functioning, maintenance will put in a good effort to restart the ride before unloading the guests. The catwalk is really only for maintenance, emergencies, or any other situation where it isn't possible and/or safe for the train to keep going.

Food. The food is insanely overpriced. All of the restaurants, with the exception of a couple specialty restaurants, stock all the same food (pizza, chicken tenders, fries). In the park you'll be looking at upwards of $10 per person for only food. Add a drink for $4 and now you're out of cash. The same exact food, prepared the same exact way, is served in the employee cafeteria for ~20% of the price it is inside the park.

It's very different from any job I've ever had. The sheer amount of people I see and talk to each day is insane. It's also surprising that they put me in a position with any power at all. My first day of work after training consisted of me showing up, learning the specifics of the ride, getting certified, and then I go right to checking restraints and being in charge of a small panel with a button to send the train out and the E-STOP button. I could have stopped the train at the top of the lift if I wanted, I could have sent the train out with one of the restraints not secured.

I think a power trip in that position is pretty common. It definitely went to my head a little at first. I thought it was pretty amazing how quickly I went from training to operating and then after awhile I realized that there doesn't need to be any real build up to it. Have you worked elsewhere in the park?

How bad do you hate the gates at the rides? I used to be a regular at great adventure. We were waiting on superman and the ride broke down .I like seeing how things worked so my wife and I stayed at the ride. It was the ride ops, maintenance and us on the platform. Turns out somebody pushed the metal gate too hard and broke the pump and caused the whole ride to estop.

How prevalent are employee relationships? How about employee orgies? I've known quite a few people who have worked at Cedar Point and Disney parks, and essentially they've said that the "barracks" is nothing but a fuckfest the entire summer.

During operating hours we're not supposed to ride the rides, bus every so often when we have an extra team member we'll let them on. When I do get to ride rides it's because either the park hasn't opened yet or just closed, and the opening/closing procedures are done.

My favorite ride is definitely the Mindbender. I would vote for Goliath but it's not very smooth compared to other B&M hyper coasters and I always end up greying out after the big helix.

I don't know if you guys over in the States heard about the crash of The Smiler rollercoaster over here in the UK in Alton Towers (it's like England's Six Flags but shit). If you have, how scared did it make you feel going into work, and did you know that shit like that could actually happen?

Hadn't even heard about that until now. The entire incident brings up a lot of questions. Where was the empty train at the time? Was it in the station?

Looking at the wikipedia page, that ride looks like a nightmare in terms of maintenance. The incidents on that rollercoaster alone are enough to make it seem like an error due to poor maintenance.

Never have I personally been worried that one of my rides would cause any injuries. Sometimes it's a bit stressful knowing that you only checked half of the restraints, and the other half were checked by some guy you don't really know.

All the keys I know of are kept on location in a specific spot, nothing super secret. I can't say it's like that for all the rides, but at least at the ones I've worked at. Most bigger rides and roller coasters have a special key for maintenance that allows them to control just about every aspect of the ride. We only have access to the gates, restraints, train dispatch, and e-stop buttons. If the ride sends out a maintenance code, we can't start the ride until maintenance has come and used their key to acknowledge the code.

To make sure there's nothing on the loading dock, everyone is where they should be, and that there's nothing else we might have missed. A lot of the looking isn't done because we have to but because we genuinely don't want to make any mistakes.

I was going to ask if you like your job, but someone already covered that. Someone already covered stories from your end too. Go figure.

Got any funny stories FROM guests?
For example, my high school had a choice between Disneyland and Six Flags. We ended up going to Disneyland. This partly happened because of people like 1 of my friends who sabotaged it by advocating for Disneyland to a bunch of people when nobody on the Six Flags side was there to do the same thing. The voting room wasn't even 1/3 of the graduating class; not enough people knew about it, Six Flags or otherwise, so that Disneyland advocacy gave that side the edge.

One time a kid (probably 7-8) came up to me who was waiting in my line and told me ALL about their life in the 1.5 minutes before her mom came up and put an end to it. She told me about her mom's speeding ticket, her dad's tendency to run red lights, her friend's birthday party, her immense passion for rollercoasters, and so on.

How awful is it to work there? My girlfriend worked at Six Flags New England and she said it was the worst, most ridiculous job ever. Well, not just her, everyone I've ever met who worked there hated it.

I like it a lot. Time goes by fast and it's not too repetitive. Sure, there's a lot of doing the same thing over and over, but there's always something else we're dealing with, such as angry guests (which is a ton of fun), and foreign people who have no god damned idea what a rollercoaster is or how to speak English so we can instruct them. I also can get in to any Six Flags park for free with a friend whenever I want, which is nice.